As an Indian and as a good human being, I definitely feel most anguished, most appalled and most aghast to see right from my own eyes in different news channels with what had happened so brazenly with Muskan Khan even though she is a Muslim and I am a Hindu as there was no justification to haul her up in the manner in which she was roughed up as we witnessed for ourselves! Who am I or anyone else to dictate what dress exactly Muskan Khan or any other girl or women will wear? It is their own fundamental choice which dress they want to wear!

To be sure, our Constitution promises right to equality to all of us as envisaged in Article 14. No one can interfere with what any other person wears. Even if there is a prescribed dress in any college then also the authorities must ensure that no girl or women is ever hooted or cajoled or heckled by any boy or men and those who dare to do so must be promptly punished or at least admonished most strongly! But when Muskan Khan was being hounded by about 30 or more such boys and men, we saw no one coming to her aid in news channels! She bravely held to her faith and made it clear that she would not succumb under any unrelenting pressure from anyone under any circumstances!

Without any hesitation of any kind, I wholeheartedly salute Muskan Khan from the innermost core of my heart and also bow my head in front of her for bravely confronting so many boys more than 30 to 40 or perhaps even more who heckled her, shouted religious slogans and due to which she lost her temper! She said while narrating about it that:
Their numbers were daunting. With so many boys all around me, coming at me as if to attack, I instantly prayed to Allah to help me get through that situation and the words Allah-hu-Akbar burst out. If this were to happen again, I would shout ‘Hindustan Zindabad’. Muskan has certainly emerged as the symbol of courage and she still don’t want it to be termed as Hindu or Muslim fight. This is her real greatness!

As we saw, she said that she feels an immediate sense of strength when she thinks of the Almighty and that was her most natural reflex when she felt cornered. Muskan who is a second year Commerce student aged 19 years old and daughter of a gym owner said that she has been wearing the hijab for quite a few years. She added that:
All the women in my family wear it. It is not just a symbol of Islam for us, it is a vessel of our self-respect. That’s why when at the entrance of the college, some members of the mob allegedly asked her to take off the burqa before entering the premises, she was enraged by their obnoxious conduct. She lamented that:
They ordered, ‘idhar hi tera burqa nikaal (remove your burqa right here). I was red with rage. How dare they asked me to remove a piece of clothing. They had no humanity.

Speaking straight from my heart, let me say this clearly that I will prefer to die and kill myself rather than terrorise any woman or girl who is wanting to lead her own life in her own manner in such a dastardly manner as we witnessed most shockingly for ourselves in Karnataka! Nothing on earth can be more cowardly and dastardly than to gather in group and start hooting and a woman or a girl when she is alone! All those boys who did such a shameful act with Muskan Khan who is a second year Commerce student of Mandya’s pre-University college in Karnataka must be brought to book and must be made to realize that India will not tolerate such intolerance and insult towards woman!

Bluntly put: Those who terrorise and try to intimidate women over wearing of hijab which is the birth right of every woman to wear what she likes are no less than terrorist and must be punished strictly. No good person can ever in his right senses try to ever justify what happened in Karnataka on any ground whatsoever! This is bound to dent our national image beyond repair and I am most terribly ashamed that such a despicable, dastardly and dangerous act which degrades women in public has not just happened in India but has not received the strongest condemnation as should have been the case! Most shocking and most condemnable!

To put it differently: If any person who does not feel terribly anguished and angered to see the horrifying manner in which those boys behaved like hooligans by surrounding one girl of different religion from theirs and started chanting slogans to provoke her cannot be good human beings and their insouciance is perhaps even most shocking! This is not just eve teasing but more than it! They should have been promptly arrested by the Karnataka police.

At PES College in Mandya, second year B.Com student Muskan was the face of defiance while confronting a crowd of young men wearing saffron shawls who heckled her and shouted religious slogans. Muskan disclosed that she was allowed to wear the burqa on campus and the hijab inside classrooms. She also disclosed that:
My college administration and principal has never opposed us wearing the burqa. Some outsiders are forcing it. Who are these people to stop us? Why should I listen to them?

Recounting the day’s event that was captured in a viral video, Muskan said that, I was going to submit my assignment. Even before I entered the college, there were a few Muslim students wearing the hijab who were being heckled. They were crying. I am here for education and my college allows me to wear the attire. In the crowd, there were only 10 percent of students from our college, most of them were outsiders. I was disturbed by the way they were behaving and I countered them. Those outsiders as well as insiders who heckled Muskan must be identified and promptly booked and punished as per law!

By all accounts, we Indians are famous all over for according highest esteem to women and if such disgraceful, dastardly and dangerous acts are not controlled promptly then the future of our nation definitely cannot be safe! What has happened with Muskan has definitely brought a bad name for our nation and which cannot be justified on any ground whatsoever! The ruthless and vulgar manner in which Muskan was being teased and heckled by those wearing saffron scarfs cannot be taken lightly by any good Indian and prompt steps must be taken to ensure that such incidents never happen in our nation again!

It is most depressing to see that the focus of the debate has shifted in news channels to whether wearing hijab is mandated by religion and whether it is correct to wear hijab in colleges! There can be no quibbling about it that if there is uniform in any school or college one has to wear it but if a women wears something which is not the uniform then also the manner in which the women is dealt with has to be in decent manner maintaining the decency, dignity and decorum which is imperative for any democracy to function smoothly! Woman’s dignity and honour is paramount and any compromise with it should not be tolerated with under any circumstances!

It goes without saying that every Indian must definitely feel most terribly ashamed, aghast and appalled to see with what has happened with Muskan Khan with such brazenness and that too with a woman who simply was practicing what she considered was right. Is this is what our culture teaches us? Definitely not!

It also certainly merits no reiteration that every true Indian must definitely salute Muskan Khan for her indefatigable courage in not fearing scores of boys wearing saffron scarfs and daring to stick to what she believes is her right. Muskan conceded that she and her female relatives in Mandya have never found their headscarves to be subjected to such judgment or scrutiny before. She candidly said that:
I have been called a sherni, along with many other names. Honestly, I do not want any of this. I just want to study. I wish to pursue an LLB degree. I am exhausted talking to people and clarifying my position. Hijab is my identity. I like wearing it, it is my izzat.

It needs no Albert Einstein to conclude that this was a crime of intimidating a single woman by so many men yet we see no strong action being taken against all those who tried to terrorise her even though they failed miserably as she remained totally unfazed! Saeed Noorie of Raza Academy applauded the college girl Muskan Khan who fiercely resisted the attempt to scare her by boys with saffron scarves on her school campus. Noorie said that:
We congratulate the girl who bravely faced the bullies and refused to take off her hijab. It is mandated by our Shariat and is also our Constitutional right. Of course, this most reprehensible incident has certainly brought disrepute to our nation as it has been aired in many countries and it must be condemned in the strongest possible parliamentary language.

Of course, there certainly could have been a better way to resolve a petty issue with dignity. We saw for ourselves how one girl was being hounded by so many of boys and many were even looking like men! This is just not done under any circumstances and there has to be zero tolerance towards such acts which have to be condemned as most regressive! Such boys also must be given strict counselling at least by not just their parents but also by the concerned police officials where such third rated incidents happen! It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in our country.

Most commendably, Muskan Khan still does not want this issue to become a Hindu-Muslim issue at all. This is what has touched me to the core! Nothing on earth can justify so many boys making taunting remarks and trying to shout her down! The brash and ruthless manner in which she was misbehaved with by so many boys can never be dismissed lightly and our news channels also must give more time to this that how can boys escape with impunity even after misbehaving with such brazenness!

Muskan who was seen standing up against the shameless hecklers in a video that has gone viral was candid enough to say that:
I faced the situation boldly and I want all girls to be tough and face such situations boldly to claim their rights. People are free to practice any religion in the country. They follow their culture. I follow mine. I should be allowed to follow my culture. I’m not questioning anybody. They should also not question me either. It’s my right to wear a burqa and hijab. Why should we stop this? Absolutely right!

Even if we concede that every college has its uniform then also the manner of dealing with girls and women has to be strictly in the highest decorum and those boys or men who behave like goons and hoodlums must be taken to task and should not be allowed to go scot free under any circumstances!

Senior and eminent Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde appearing on behalf of some students argued that the Education Act does not empower the state governments to prescribe uniforms in colleges. How can then state government act in breach? This is the moot question!

It is good to learn that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh made it clear that no proposal to ban hijab (head scarf) in educational institutions in the state is under consideration. So there should be no confusion on this. Since the matter is pending before the Karnataka High Court, we have no option but to keep our fingers crossed on what it rules finally on this and what the Apex Court rules in the end! Whatever the Court rules has to be followed but what happened most unfortunately with Muskan and other Muslim girls like her who were ruthlessly heckled cannot be justified under any circumstances by anyone! No denying!

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.